Kieron Pelling has created a series of images especially for the East Sussex World War 1 website which overlay original photos taken during the period 1914 to 1919 with contemporary photos taken in the same place. The latest in this wonderful series, called ‘Then and Now’, can be seen in the gallery below.

‘The Announcement “Potatoes at 11 O’Clock” made by Mr Pollard, Courthouse Street, Hastings, on Saturday Morning, caused some hundreds of buyers to assemble. At 10 O’Clock the shop was besieged by an eager crowd, only to learn that the delivery had not been made. A great shout went up when the trolley bearing the much sought after vegetable made its appearance. It was, however, a good natured crowd and the police officers regulating the crowd had little difficulty. No one was served with more than two pounds, and the purchasers, young and old alike, had to be satisfied with this amount. Mr Pollard’s aim was to see that the poor were supplied rather than the fried fish shops and restaurants at a larger price.‘

The photo is of the junction of Courthouse Street and The Bourne, Hastings Old Town.

SECOND TYPE OF TRAINING TO BE OFFERED IN COLLEGES; LOCATION OF UNITS UNDE TERMINED; MATERIAL SUPPLIED BY ARMY.

An announcement has been made by the United States Government of the plans for the organization of Coast Artillery Units of the R. O. T. C. which will be established in about fourteen colleges and universities of the country that as yet have not been selected. This information is of double interest as it is the first expansion of the government's R. O. T. C. policy to other branches of the service than the Field Artillery, and as an important step in the re-organization of the whole system of the coast defenses of the United States.

In a recent interview with a CRIMSON reporter, General Edwards said that he favored aero, coast artillery, and infantry units, as well as field artillery units at colleges. The formulation of plans for a coast artillery R. O. T. C. may be an indication of further extension of the scope of the units by the government. According to the descriptive circular, the coast artillery was chosen as the second form of training to be put in colleges because of the important part it played in the world war, and because of its adaptability to the regular college curricula with a minimum of disturbance.

Coast Artillery Includes Many Branches.

The Coast Artillery Corps includes railway artillery, army artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, and part of the trench artillery, in addition to the strictly coast defense guns. The course provides for two hours of physical training per week, which may take the form of athletics. A minimum of three hours a week of theoretical instruction is required, including plane and solid geometry, place and spherical trigonometry, college algebra, use of slide rule, physics, (electricity, optics, statical and dynamic mechanics, physical laboratory work, theory of errors, and thermo-dynamics), American history, English, plane surveying, gunnery, and two hours per week of military instruction during the first two years. All these courses, except gunnery and the basic military course, will be taught by the regular academic staff, and, if practicable, even gunnery will be taught by the department of mathematics of physics.

The United States Government will provide such models, equipment. Lantern slides, moving picture films, and blue prints as are essential for the military features of the institution. Artillery material, panoramic sights, B. C. telescopes, and other military equipment will be supplied, and all students enrolled in the course will be given, whenever possible, opportunities to witness firings and the practical use of the material. As in the case of the field artillery course, there will be required summer camps.

Units Fundamental in Defense Scheme.

The organization of college coast artillery units is a fundamental part of the new scheme of the defense of the United States sea coast. The plan provides for radical changes in the coast defense policy of the government, so as to include as its basic element the utilization of railway and tractor ordnance of heavy calibre, linking the strategic points on he coast with existing railway systems. By means of the railroads and military roads capable of supporting heavy motor tractors, the whole system of defense will be changed from a static to a mobile one. For the officering of this new organization, the government is planning to commission at least 1500 college students yearly in the reserve.

Colleges Furnish Best Officer Material.

In Commenting on the plans for college R. O. T. C. units next year, the government bulletin has said, "The war has demonstrated conclusively that our colleges and universities furnish the best material for officers from civil life. A sound body, the ability to think clearly, and ideals of service, are part of what a college aims to give its students, and are the most important basic qualifications for an officer. In addition, practically every branch of knowledge has its military applications. In most cases a slight addition of material to a course, showing the military application of the principles taught, will add not only to the military value of that course, but will greatly increase its general interest and value to the student.

"A large portion, of the best, of the officers required by the American forces in the world war were obtained from students and graduates of our universities and colleges. A properly organized course of military training in the educational institutions would have increased very greatly the efficiency of the officers obtained from these institutions and would have decreased very materially the time required to fit them for service with troops.

"It is essential to the future welfare of our country that a reserve of officers, suitable for service with the various types of armament, be built up in our universities and colleges. This can be done by taking advantage of the military value of existing courses and adding thereto such military subjects as may be necessary. The standard engineering courses and selected courses in the departments of literature, science, and art furnish an excellent foundation for the training required for an officer of the heavy artillery, anti-aircraft, and artillery of position."

During the Easter Rising in April 1916, Francis Sheehy Skeffington was shot by a British Army officer who was later declared insane. Sheehy Skeffington and Joyce were close friends at university and Joyce’s first published work was a joint publication with Sheehy Skeffington.

Born in Cavan in 1878, Francis Skeffington married Hanna Sheehy, a daughter of the MP David Sheehy, in 1903 and added her name to his. As a journalist, Sheehy Skeffington pursued his interests in politics, women’s rights, pacifism, vegetarianism and antivivisectionism. His wife Hanna was a teacher.

Though he sympathised with the 1916 rebels, Sheehy Skeffington, as a pacifist, was not engaged in the rebellion itself. On the evening of Tuesday 25 April 1916 he had been trying to organise people to prevent the looting of shops and homes damaged in the rebellion. He was arrested by British Army officers at Portobello Bridge as an enemy sympathiser, and was later taken to Portobello Barracks. On the morning of 26 April, he was shot without trial on the orders of Captain JC Bowen Colthurst.

Major Francis Fletcher Vane, commanding officer at Portobello Barracks, suspected that Colthurst had had Sheehy Skeffington and two other men (Thomas Dickson and Patrick McIntyre) summarily executed, and Vane had him arrested pending a court-martial. However, Vane’s superiors ignored his request for Colthurst’s court-martial and instead relieved Vane of his command and released Colthurst.

Colthurst conducted a raid on Sheehy Skeffington’s home and tried to cover up what he had done. Meanwhile, Vane left for England and pursued his case with the authorities there. He was sacked from the British Army but, thanks to his efforts, the authorities were forced to court-martial Colthurst who was found guilty of murder but insane. Colthurst was sent to Broadmoor Criminal Asylum in England where he remained for a year before being released.

After the shooting, the bodies of Sheehy Skeffington and the other two men had been buried in the yard at Portobello Barracks on the night of 26 April. Sheehy Skeffington’s body was removed from there and reinterred in a grave at Glasnevin Cemetery on 8 May 1916. A Royal Commission of Enquiry was set up to examine the murders and Sheehy Skeffington’s wife was offered damages of £10,000 which she refused to accept.

Lieutenant McCormack and his colleagues were stationed at the GPO, and during that faithful Easter Week on Wednesday, 26 April 1916, he was shot by a sniper's bullet. The location of his killing is variously recorded as in the GPO and Moore Lane area.

The Lord Lieutenant has issued The following statement from the Vice-Regal Lodge:-
During the night the Royal Naval Reserve Gunboat On the Liffey shelled, and the Troops subsequently Occupied Liberty Hall (Headquarters of the Sinn Fein Force). Meanwhile large reinforcements have arrived In Dublin, including detachment of 10,000 troops from England, with Artillery, Engineers and Medical Corps. In Other portions of the city the situation is well In hand. Repairs to telegraph lines now being rapidly Effected.
By Order
Dated 26th April, 1916.
Printed at Headquarters Printing Office, Curragh

Inspector of Mines Report: Five men were killed in one accident at Neilsland Colliery, owned by Messrs. John Watson Ltd., by an irruption of water and liquid matter. It was intended to work that part of the Ell Coal Seam left when the working of Eddlewood Colliery was abandoned, to the Neilsland shafts. By mines and a blind pit the Ell Coal had been reached near the vicinity of the No. 3 Eddlewood shaft. Boreholes were kept in advance but on 26th April the refuse with which the No. 3 Eddlewood shaft had been filled, being sludge from a coal washer and in a more or less liquid state, burst into the Ell Coal workings and blocked all the roads in the immediate area. Four of the men killed were in the Ell Coal, and the fifth was at or near the top of a brae in the Main Coal. The four men in the Ell Coal had no chance of escape, and the fifth man was overwhelmed by the flowing mud and carried down to the foot of the brae. It is possible that debris from a coal washer might, with an absolutely dry shaft and an outlet for water at the bottom, to drain away the water carried by the debris itself, be a safe medium with which to fill a shaft even if such shaft were to be at some later date holed into near the bottom but as such conditions are very rarely, if ever, met with, it would seem that if it is intended to hole into an old shaft so filled, the shaft should first be emptied of the debris by working from the surface. It is probable in this case that the barring of the old shaft had collapsed and that the inrush was due to a failure of the roof above the Ell Coal Seam.
[Report by Mr H Walker, Inspector of Mines]